Minority Postdoctoral Research Fellowship for FY2006

2006财年少数族裔博士后研究奖学金

• 批准号: 0609896
• 负责人: Brian Johnson
• 金额: $ 18.3万
• 依托单位: Johnson Brian R
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2006
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2006-09-01 至 2009-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0609896&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Minority; Postdoctoral; Research; Fellowship; FY2006

This project is awarded under the Minority Postdoctoral Research Fellowships and Supporting Activities Program for 2006. The nature of castes is central to understanding the organization of work in social insects, yet there is profound disagreement over this fundamental concept. The temporal caste concept posits that insect colonies exhibit a division of labor in which workers specialize on changing task sets as they age. An alternative model, which has gained support in recent years, proposes that colonies are composed of flexible workers able to perform any task as demand necessitates. My previous work showed that honeybee workers are capable of switching between tasks not requiring a physiological specialization, but are incapable of switching to tasks for which such a specialization is required. Accordingly, I proposed a revised caste concept that stresses limited flexibility within a stable caste system. This model has the potential to bridge the divide between those models stressing flexibility in task allocation and those models stressing specialization among workers. The objective of my current research is to determine how broadly applicable this revised caste concept is by testing its relevance for another species of social insect. The stingless bees strongly differ from honeybees in both colony size and habitat. Methods used to elucidate the caste system in honeybees will be tailored to the stingless bee Melipona panamica. Specifically, experiments designed to test for inflexibility in task performance related to physiological specialization and tests of colony flexibility using experimentally generated single-caste colonies will be conducted. This work will shed light on the still poorly understood method by which flexible task allocation occurs within the confines of an inflexible caste system.My career goals are to conduct postdoctoral research before obtaining a position as a professor at a major research university in the United States. This fellowship supports that goal in a number of ways. First, it provides an opportunity to conduct research aimed at cementing the importance of my dissertation work. Second, it provides an opportunity to collaborate with numerous scientists from related fields at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and in particular Dr. William T. Wcislo. This institute, being a center for research on ecology, behavior, and evolution, hosts hundreds of researchers in these fields each year. The large number of researchers in different disciplines in attendance at the institute should allow me to meet researchers with whom I can plan long-term future collaborative studies on social insects using an integrative approach. Third, and finally, this fellowship will allow me to increase my set of basic skills in topics such as multivariable statistics and theoretical modeling, both of which are of increasing importance in behavioral ecology.

该项目是根据2006年少数民族博士后研究奖学金和支持活动计划授予的。种姓的性质是理解社会性昆虫工作组织的核心，但在这个基本概念上存在深刻的分歧。时间种姓的概念假定，昆虫群体表现出劳动分工，工人专门改变任务集，因为他们的年龄。近年来获得支持的另一种模式提出，殖民地由灵活的工人组成，能够根据需要执行任何任务。我以前的工作表明，蜜蜂工人能够在不需要生理专业化的任务之间切换，但不能切换到需要这种专业化的任务。因此，我提出了一个修订的种姓概念，强调在一个稳定的种姓制度内有限的灵活性。 这个模型有可能弥合这些模型之间的鸿沟，强调灵活性的任务分配和强调工人之间的专业化。 我目前研究的目的是通过测试它与另一种社会性昆虫的相关性来确定这种修订后的种姓概念的广泛适用性。 无刺蜂在群体大小和栖息地上都与蜜蜂有很大的不同。 用于阐明蜜蜂种姓制度的方法将针对无刺蜜蜂Melipona panamica。具体而言，将进行设计用于测试与生理专业化相关的任务表现的灵活性的实验，以及使用实验产生的单种性菌落测试菌落灵活性的实验。 这项工作将揭示仍然知之甚少的方法，通过这种方法，灵活的任务分配发生在一个不灵活的种姓制度的范围内。我的职业目标是在获得美国一所主要研究型大学的教授职位之前进行博士后研究。 该研究金以多种方式支持这一目标。 首先，它提供了一个机会进行研究，旨在巩固我的论文工作的重要性。 第二，它提供了一个与史密森热带研究所相关领域的许多科学家，特别是威廉·T。Wcislo。 该研究所是生态学，行为和进化研究中心，每年接待数百名这些领域的研究人员。出席该研究所的不同学科的大量研究人员应该允许我与研究人员会面，我可以使用综合方法计划未来对社会昆虫的长期合作研究。 第三，也是最后一点，这个奖学金将使我能够增加我在多变量统计和理论建模等主题方面的基本技能，这两者在行为生态学中越来越重要。